Texas Boomed in 2011

Texas Boomed in 2011

Texas Boomed in 2011

Texas' rapid economic growth has been largely a question of rapid population growth—it's warm, it's close to Mexico, and it has a very permissive building-permit regime, so lots of people have been moving there—but the Bureau of Economic Analysis' new data release on personal income growth in 2011 shows a great year for Texas across the board.

Personal income grew in every metropolitan statistical area in America, but Texas was a star performer. Its biggest MSA, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was in the top quintile of all American metro areas. So was Houston. So was San Antonio. So was Austin. So was El Paso. That's five out of the state's top five metro areas, and you can throw in Corpus Christie and some of the small West Texas cities for good measure.